Where apps hide your files

CrossOver bottles: where drive_c lives and how to move it

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

CrossOver keeps every bottle, with its Windows programs and settings, in a folder inside your Library, though some saves land in your Mac home folder instead. Here is the path, what is inside a bottle, and how to move bottles to another drive.

The location

~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles

CodeWeavers' documentation gives that as the folder where CrossOver on a Mac looks for bottles by default. Each bottle is a folder in there with the name you gave it, and each is a separate Windows environment with its own C: drive.

The Library folder is hidden. In Finder choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), paste the path and press Return. From Terminal, to open it and list your bottles:

open ~/Library/Application\ Support/CrossOver/Bottles
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/CrossOver/Bottles

If the folder is empty or missing, you have not created a bottle yet, the bottle folder was changed (see below), or you use published bottles from the shared location. CrossOver is not installed on the Mac used for this guide, so the details come from CodeWeavers' support pages.

Inside a bottle: where drive_c is

A bottle is a Wine prefix, and its Windows C: drive is a folder called drive_c:

~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/<bottle name>/drive_c

The quick way there is in CrossOver itself: select the bottle in the sidebar, open Bottle Actions and click Open C: Drive, which opens it in Finder. CodeWeavers describes what you will see:

Folder	What it is
Program Files	Where Windows programs are installed (64-bit bottles also have Program Files (x86))
ProgramData	Bottle-specific CrossOver data
users	The Windows user profile, crossover in CodeWeavers' examples, with links back to your Mac home folder
windows	The registry files and other Windows settings CrossOver creates

Beside drive_c, a dosdevices folder maps drive letters to Mac folders.

Some "bottle" files are really in your home folder

That users row matters. CodeWeavers says the Users folder links back to your home directory, and Wine, which CrossOver is built on, links the profile's Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos folders to ~/Documents, ~/Desktop, ~/Downloads, ~/Music, ~/Pictures and ~/Movies. So a game that saves to its Documents folder usually writes into your Mac's own ~/Documents, while anything saved under AppData stays inside the bottle. To see which folders are links (an arrow in the output), list the profile:

ls -l ~/Library/Application\ Support/CrossOver/Bottles/<bottle name>/drive_c/users/crossover

Each program decides where it saves, so if a file is not where you expect, look in both places.

Shared bottles and stubs

CodeWeavers' advanced configuration page describes bottles an administrator publishes for every account on the Mac, kept here by default:

/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles

When another user opens a published bottle, CrossOver creates a stub bottle with the same name in that user's own Bottles folder. It holds that user's changes and uses symbolic links that point back to the large files in the published bottle, so copying a stub does not copy the data it points to.

Change where bottles are stored

From CrossOver 24, CodeWeavers documents a setting for this:

1. Choose CrossOver > Settings and select the System Integration tab.
2. Click the Bottle Folder icons to choose a new location. Reset goes back to the default. The preference is per user.

CodeWeavers warns that an external drive should be formatted macOS Extended (Journaled) or APFS, otherwise you risk bottle corruption, and advises against a network volume for the bottle folder.

The same preference can be set in Terminal, with CrossOver quit:

defaults write com.codeweavers.CrossOver BottleDir "/Volumes/MyDrive/CrossOver Bottles"

MyDrive is a placeholder for your own drive. To go back, run defaults delete com.codeweavers.CrossOver BottleDir. CrossOver Games uses com.codeweavers.CrossOverGames. Do not point it at the published-bottles folder; CodeWeavers says user settings would conflict with system ones.

CodeWeavers also describes a harder route, editing CrossOver.conf inside the app (Contents/Shared Support/CrossOver/etc/) and setting CX_BOTTLE_PATH. It can list several folders separated by colons, and CrossOver creates new bottles only in the first. It is meant for running several CrossOver versions side by side; most people should use the setting.

Moving the bottles you already have

The setting changes where CrossOver looks, not what is already there. CodeWeavers does not spell out the steps, so take the cautious order:

1. Quit CrossOver and every Windows program running in it.
2. Copy the bottle folders to the new location in Finder. Copy, do not move, so the originals stay as your backup.
3. Change the Bottle Folder setting to the new location.
4. Open CrossOver and check that each bottle appears and its program starts.
5. Only then move the old copies to the Trash.

Backing up and moving to a new Mac

CrossOver has its own archive format. Select the bottle, then choose Bottle > Export 'Bottle Name' to Archive (the menu shows your bottle's name) and save the .cxarchive file. On the other Mac, Bottle > Import Bottle Archive restores it. Copying the bottle folder with CrossOver quit also works. Either way, files a program saved through the Documents or Desktop links are in your Mac home folder, so back those up as well.

Your CrossOver settings are in ~/Library/Preferences/com.codeweavers.CrossOver.plist. CodeWeavers notes that copying this file into another account gives it the same preferences.

Space

Each bottle is a separate Windows environment with its own C: drive, so many bottles take more room than one. Check sizes first:

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/CrossOver/Bottles/*

CodeWeavers says a single program cannot be removed from a bottle safely; you delete the whole bottle. Right-click it in CrossOver's sidebar and choose Delete Bottle, then confirm. That deletes everything stored inside the bottle, so copy out anything you want from AppData first.

Why a normal search misses these

The Bottles folder is inside ~/Library, which Finder and Spotlight searches leave out, and Windows programs bury their files in nested folders such as AppData.

Finding a file inside a bottle

Typing drive_c into Everywhere lists every bottle on the Mac, and typing a program's executable name or a save file's name finds it in whichever bottle holds it. The bottles are in ~/Library/Application Support, which Everywhere covers without extra permission; saves that went through the links into ~/Documents or ~/Desktop appear once it has Full Disk Access. It matches names only.

Common questions

Where does CrossOver store bottles on a Mac?

By default in ~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles. Each bottle is its own folder, and its Windows C: drive is the drive_c folder inside.

How do I move CrossOver bottles to an external drive?

In CrossOver 24 or later, choose CrossOver > Settings > System Integration and change Bottle Folder. Use an APFS or macOS Extended (Journaled) drive, copy existing bottles there first, and keep the originals until a bottle starts.

Where is the C drive in CrossOver on Mac?

Inside the bottle, as drive_c, for example ~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/<bottle name>/drive_c. In CrossOver, Bottle Actions > Open C: Drive opens it in Finder.

Where are CrossOver game saves on a Mac?

Saves under the Windows profile's Documents usually go to your Mac's ~/Documents, because the bottle's user folders link to your home folder. Saves under AppData stay inside the bottle's drive_c/users folder.